Phenotypic characterization and productive potentialities of indigenous dwarf chicken of Bangladesh

Abstract

The study was conducted to investigate the phenotypic features, morphometry and production potentialities of indigenous dwarf chicken (IDC) of Bangladesh under intensive management condition. A total of 48 females and 12 males were collected from different districts and the experiment was performed at BAU Poultry farm for a period of 75 weeks. The predominant plumage and skin color were black and white, respectively. The average shank length, shank circumference and live weight (28 weeks) in adult males and females were 7.5 and 4.69 cm, 6.28 and 3.69 cm, and 1.77±0.38 and 1.10±0.077 kg, respectively. The reduction of live weight for dwarf male and female chickens relative to their normal shanked counterparts (NSC) at same age was 12.91 and 16.91%, respectively. Hen day egg production, average egg weight, average feed intake and FCR (feed conversion ratio) of IDC were recorded 37.43%, 38.25 g, 69.57g and 4.58, respectively. The average age and weight at sexual maturity were recorded as 166.53 days and 1093 g, respectively. IDC consumed 11.13% less feed than NSC during 1-20 weeks. Survivability of IDC up to 0-8, 1-23 and 24-75 weeks of age were found 97.25, 94.90 and 95.24%, respectively. The study reveal that IDC had relatively lower adult weight and consumed less feed without affecting egg production compared to NSC under intensive management condition and could be exploited its potentiality for development of mini layer under semi-scavenging system of Bangladesh.Bang. J. Anim. Sci. 2016. 45 (1): 52-61

Genetic and phenotypic parameter estimates for body weight and egg production at sexual maturity in Hilly×Fayoumi crossbred chickens

“…A slightly higher weight at 4 th weeks of age in hilly chicken reported by Rahman et al (2013b) was attributed to a high protein energy diet supplement. While considering body weight by sex and for both sexes combined, H♂ × F♀ crosses in the present study showed a higher body weight at 8 weeks of age compared to other native and improved native chicken genotypes (Faruque et al, 2013;Rahman et al, 2013a;Faruque et al, 2015 andFerdaus et al, 2016). The average body weight at 12 weeks of H♂ × F♀ crosses in this study coincides with the observed body weight for Hilly and desi chickens by Faruque et al (2017).…”

“…H♂ × F♀ crosses also showed a heavier body weight at 16 weeks in comparison with the average body weight for improved indigenous chicken genotypes recorded by Faruque et al (2015). Ferdaus et al (2016) found 1212 and 1764 gm live weight of female and male indigenous chicken, respectively at 20 weeks of age which is much lower than the present study at the same age. The mean body weights of male birds were significantly heavier (p<0.001) than their female counterpart at hatch and from 4 to 20 weeks of age.…”

“…Under intensive management system, the observed mean weight at hatch for H♂ × F♀ crosses was 35±0.1 gm, which is in line with the finding of Khan et al (2007). The hatch weight observed for H♂ × F♀ crosses in present study was higher when compared with observations from previous studies on different native chicken genotypes in Bangladesh (Faruque et al, 2007;Faruque et al, 2013;Faruque et al, 2015;Ferdaus et al, 2016 andFaruque et al, 2017). Fardaus et al (2013) observed a lower weight for native dwarf and normal shanked chicken at 4 th weeks of age compared to the present study.…”

“…The highest body weight gain was found in 8-10 weeks of age where the lowest body weight gain was found during 0-2 weeks of age for H♂ × F♀ crossbred chickens in the present study. Ferdaus et al (2016) also reported the highest body weight gain at an almost same age for the indigenous chicken. Yeasmin and Howlider (2013) observed that higher weight gains for indigenous chickens from 5-18 weeks than the birds of 0-4 weeks of age which agreed the findings of the present study.…”

“…Information on phenotypic and genetic parameters is crucial for any genetic upgrading program. There is literature on phenotypic parameters for unselected native chickens of Bangladesh (Faruque et al, 2013;Ferdaus et al, 2016;Talukder et al, 2016;Jahan et al, 2017); however, these values may not be appropriate to the breeding for crossbred chickens. Therefore, the aim of this study was to estimate phenotypic and genetic parameters for body weight, performances related to sexual maturity and early egg production traits to understand which traits should be included in breeding programs for this crossbred chicken.…”